Solved Installation stall at "Setup is preparing your computer for first use"

[benseb]

Installation stall at "Setup is preparing your computer for first use"

I am trying to install Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on my custom build. I get through the whole system setup and stall at the "setup is preparing your computer for first use"

Here are my computer specs:
AMD FX6300 Black Edition
Asus M5A97 LE R2.0
8 GB GSkill Ripjawz DDR3 1333 MHz
EVGA GeForce GTX650 (also tried my old Geforce 8600 GT)
1 TB Western Digital HDD 7200 RPM SATA 3.0

I've gone into the device manager and tried disabling the graphics card, uninstalling the driver, and updating the driver, none of which did the trick. Then I browsed to the system logs, and found that the "online installation" failed was the last entry in my setup log. I've disabled my wireless card with the device manager, and will now attempt uninstalling the driver for it.

I'm at a total loss, I've put a ton of time and money into this machine, and I've never had any of these problems with any of my previous builds. Any advice?

 

[Layback Bear]

Your specs show you already have Window 7 Ultimate installed.
Are you trying a Clean Install or a Repair Install?

Are you following any tutorials on this forum?

 

[benseb]

Sorry that is misleading. I am attempting to install 7 Ultimate now. It's a clean install to a new hard drive.

And as an update, I've tried uninstalling the wireless card and that has not worked either.

 

[Layback Bear]

Unhook all hard drives and ssd except the one you want to install new on. Now you just have your new SSD and CD/DVD player hooked up.

Then use this tutorial by Brink for a clean install.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

 

[benseb]

Using the tutorial, with only one DIMM of Ram installed and only my main hard drive installed, I still stall at the screen shown on step 10. How long should this screen take?

 

[gregrocker]

Try the steps to Troubleshoot Windows 7 Installation Failures - Windows 7 Help Forums.

Is this a new mobo which has UEFI BIOS? If so have you disabled Secure Boot, tried enabling some level of CSM or Legacy BIOS, then boot the media as a UEFI device? If in doubt about these settings, post back camera snaps attached in reply box with paper clip icon.

 

[benseb]

That's got it! It was the UEFI BIOS, worked perfectly once I disabled it. Thank you so much!

 

[gregrocker]

I would first try install to UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums
so you know what extra features it offers like mouse support in BIOS, faster boot times, etc.

If you have questions about the settings needed then post back camera snaps of the BIOS Settings for UEFI, CSM, Legacy BIOS and BIOS Boot Priority order. Use paper clip in reply box to attach the pictures.

For UEFI installs the installation media must be booted as a UEFI device in the Boot Priority order or using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key. A flash stick must also be formatted using Option One of UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

 

[Layback Bear]

This is in the tutorial I posted.

Greg is this different than your suggestion. If so which one is better.

Warning
If you want to install Windows 7 using UEFI instead of BIOS, then see this below first.

How to Install Windows 7 Using "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" (UEFI)

 

[gregrocker]

I didn't want others to think I was advising to disable UEFI to proceed in all cases. I would always first try install to UEFI so one can test the benefits of UEFI BIOS which are often mouse-support, faster boot times, greater security.

When UEFI was young and harder to install to many like myself would simply go the easier route to Bypass UEFI to Install WIn7.

I don't advise this now since UEFI is no longer that hard to install upon with patience and following steps given, so users can experience the UEFI features first before deciding whether they want it. The idea is that they paid for these features so should at least get to try them.

I hope that explains it better.